Merry Christmas 2008
by CooperTrooperSG1
Summary: Christmas 2008. Parker calls the shots. Booth and Brennan continue the tradition from 2007. BB UST. First time posting a Bones fic.


Title: Merry Christmas 2008

Author: CoooperTrooperSG1

Rating: PG

Summary: Christmas 2008 with Parker, Booth, and Bones

Author's Note: This is my first time to post a Bones story. I hope that you like it.

Merry Christmas 2008

Seeley Booth tucked his son into bed and kissed his head. "Goodnight, buddy."

"Night, Daddy, I love you," Parker said with a yawn.

Booth ruffled the boy's hair and said, "Love you too."

He got up and was about to shut the door when Parker called, "Dad?"

"Yeah bub?" he asked, leaning back through the doorframe.

"Are we gonna bring Tempe another Christmas tree this year?"

Surprised at the question, he entered the room again and sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "I don't know, Parker, why? And since when are you calling her 'Tempe.'"

"Just wonderin'. And she said I could last time I saw her." At the confused look on his dad's face, Parker added, "You weren't there. Remember, I was doing the science club thing with Mr. Max?"

"Oh, yeah."

"After it was over I asked him if he'd take me to see Bones while we waited for mom to pick me up and he said okay, and when we were walking there, he said it was funny that she let me call her Bones too like you, and I asked her why it was funny and she said she hated the nickname at first but now she likes it and it was really something just between you and her but she didn't mind if I used it too… but I remembered how mad Mom got about the whole Mr. Fantastic thing so I decided not to call her Bones anymore. She said I could call her Tempe if I wanted."

"Oh." Booth didn't know what else to say to that.

"So, are we?" Parker prompted.

"Are we what?"

"Taking her a tree again?"

"I don't know, buddy… do you want to?" he asked, not sure which way his son was going with this one.

"Yeah! Is she gonna be at her house this year, with her dad, or what?"

"I don't know," Booth admitted, realizing that he hadn't yet asked his partner about her plans this Christmas – it was kind of a touchy subject with her, and he hadn't found the right moment to bring it up yet.

"Well, can you find out? Because Mom said I can stay with you this time, right?"

"Yes, but you have to go back to her house for lunch. Your grandparents and cousins are going to be there and everything."

"Hmmph," Parker grumped about that for a moment, then said, "Well Daddy if I'm only gonna be with you Christmas eve and Christmas morning, then when are we going to do Christmas with Tempe if she doesn't come?"

"I don't know, Park… but it's nothing to get upset over, okay, you'll see her at some point and she'll give you her present…"

"I don't just want a present from her, Daddy!" Parker insisted, looking offended at the suggestion. "I just don't want her to be by herself! I think Mr. Max said he was going to be with his son and grandchildren; I heard him telling Miss Angela."

"Oh. Well… Parker, I'll talk to her about it, okay? But she might have plans already… she didn't get to go on the trip last year that she was planning…"

"Ask her, Daddy. She shouldn't be alone at Christmas. She should be with us," he said firmly, and Booth knew that his son was possibly even more stubborn on this topic than his partner would be. Still, it might be a close call.

"I promise to talk to her about it, Parker. Now, go to sleep."

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"Booth, why do you keep looking at me like that?" Brennan asked bluntly. "You're going to get in a wreck, and this is a new vehicle."

"I'm not going to get in a wreck," Booth argued automatically, turning his attention back to the road. "I have to talk to you about something."

"Can we please do it before we get to Sweets's office then?" Brennan asked, since they were pulling into the parking lot as she spoke.

"Yeah," he said, pulling into the first available parking space and turning in his seat to face her. "Parker was over last night."

"I know. You told me that when you left early to pick him up from school yesterday."

"Right. But he wanted me to ask you what you're doing for Christmas, and see if you'd join us."

"Um." Brennan cleared her throat and said, "Well, I didn't really have any concrete plans. I think Angela might be planning to kidnap me and drag me to Texas with her to see her father but I was hoping to elude capture."

Chuckling, Booth said, "What about Russ, Amy, the girls, your dad…"

"Well, the girls miss their grandparents… amy's parents. They live in Vancouver. Since Russ has been in prison, and with all the things Amy had to deal with before I introduced her to the doctor… she hasn't been able to take them that far for a while. I gave them tickets to Vancouver for Christmas. They're all going there for two weeks. They said I could come too, but of course that would just be weird. My dad's going out there on the 23rd, but he's not staying the entire time."

"That really was nice of you, Bones."

She shrugged. "The girls should get to see their grandparents at Christmas."

"Well, then, since you're busy giving kids what they want this year, want to cover Parker too?"

"Sure. I've been thinking about getting him a microscope…"

"He doesn't need a microscope. And that's not what I meant. He wants you to come over at Christmas, Bones. He was pretty insistent about it actually."

"But you're only getting him a short time; I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be. Come on, you're not going to disappoint my only child on Christmas Eve, are you?" he asked, giving her a pitiful look.

Shaking her head and smiling, she said, "You've got to stop doing that. It's not fair."

He knew he had won. Grinning, he switched the car off and got out quickly, calling, "Thanks, Bones, let's go see Sweets before that vein starts popping in his head."

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"Is she coming, is she coming?" Parker asked, hopping up and down in place by the Christmas tree his dad was putting in the corner of the living room.

"Yes, she's coming, Parker, she said she was coming, just relax. She'll be here soon."

Booth was struggling with the huge tree, trying to get it into the tree stand without sloshing water all over the place. "Is it straight, Parker?" he called.

"No, it's going this way," Parker said, unaware that Booth couldn't see whatever his son was doing to describe which way it was going, since Booth was currently on his knees, butt in the air, head buried in nettles.

Booth tried to fix it, and nearly dropped the whole thing on top of himself as the doorbell rang and Parker screamed, "She's HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!"

He heard his son running to the door but couldn't really get up without crashing the tree through the window or on top of himself.

Parker threw open the door and yelled, "Tempe, you're really here!"

"Parker, you're here too," she answered, as he jumped at her for an enthusiastic hug. She caught him awkwardly, laughing. "Wow, you are full of Christmas spirit. Where's your dad?"

"Under the tree," Parker said, pointing to the corner of the living room and dragging her by the hand that way.

"Booth! Do you need help?" she asked, amused, directing the question towards all she could see of him, which was basically his rear end.

"Yes please!"

She reached over him and grabbed the middle of the tree, steadying it from higher up. After a few minutes of hit and miss attempts, they finally got the tree secure and straight.

"There," he said, backing out from under the tree and getting to his feet. He started brushing pine needles off of his sweater, smiling at his partner now that he could actually see her properly. "Hi Bones. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Booth," she laughed, brushing a few pine needles out of his hair.

"Tempe, where's your bag?" Parker demanded, looking at the small purse that she had dropped by the door when Parker had launched himself at her.

"Your gifts are in the back of my car…" she started.

Looking crestfallen, Parker said, "You're not spending the night? What about Christmas morning, you have to open presents with us…"

Seeing that the boy was near tears, Brennan said, "It's okay, Parker. I didn't know you wanted me to spend the night. It's not a problem, okay, I would love to watch you open your presents in the morning."

"Daddy makes breakfast afterwards and it's really good," Parker promised, smiling again and hugging her around the neck tightly.

Looking up at Booth to check that she'd said the right thing, Booth looked relieved and mouthed, 'thank you.' She nodded and stood up again after Parker let go of her.

"Can we decorate the tree now?" Parker asked hopefully, smiling at his dad.

"Well, um, maybe I should bring up the presents first. I heard it might snow so I need to get them inside."

"I'll help," Booth said.

"No!" Brennan said quickly. "Um, one of them wouldn't wrap well… unless you want me to go ahead and give it to you now, I should probably hide it somewhere."

"You can hide it in my closet, Tempe!" Parker said enthusiastically, wanting to be let in on a surprise for his father.

"Great idea, Parker. Why don't you keep your dad busy while I bring it inside, so he doesn't peek?"

"Okay, come on Daddy, let's go play cards in your bedroom!" Parker said, dragging him down the hallway.

Amused at Parker's enthusiasm, she hurried to bring up the unwieldy gift, careful not to damage it in the moving process. She secured it in Parker's closet, and covered it with a spare blanket she found in there, just in case. That done, she knocked on Booth's bedroom door. Parker answered, grinning. "Can I see the present?" he asked at once.

"I don't know, can you keep it a secret?" she asked, smiling conspiratorially at him.

"I promise," he said eagerly. Brennan nodded and gestured towards his room. He ran off, and came back in with his nose wrinkled.

"What, you don't think it's good?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I dunno, Tempe. I guess you know what Daddy likes… but grown-ups ask for _weird _things for Christmas!" he concluded.

As Booth poked his head into the hallway, Brennan held a finger to her lips. Parker nodded and trotted back out to the living room. "Want a hand with the rest of the stuff?" Booth asked her.

"Sure."

"So, what did you get me that's weird?" Booth asked, grabbing his coat. "Parks, we'll be right back. Why don't you start untangling the lights? But don't plug them in, bub, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

Booth and Brennan went back down to her car and Booth groaned at the large shopping bags brimming with wrapped presents in the back of her car. "Bones, Parker just wanted you to be here, you shouldn't have gotten him all this stuff, you'll spoil him…"

"It's not all from me, Booth. Angela, Hodgins, and my dad all asked me to bring him things."

"Oh. Well… that's a little better, I guess. But still."

"Booth, Parker is a sweet boy. He's not spoiled at all. It's Christmas, and I think everyone enjoys having a child to give gifts to. But that reminds me, I need to talk to you about something. Well, Angela says I do, anyway, and I guess I see her point."

"What?" Booth asked, hauling the gifts out of the backseat. She sounded nervous and serious.

"Nothing bad," she said quickly. "And not now. Maybe when Parker goes to sleep," she suggested.

"Okay. Listen, thanks for doing this. I know you didn't plan on spending the night but he gets up so early in the morning, it would be ridiculous to ask you to drive home and then come back that early. I should have realized you wouldn't know and told you ahead of time, so you could have brought a bag…"

"I'll be fine, Booth," she assured him.

"Okay. Good. Well, let's go decorate the tree before Parker starts doing it by himself and lumps all the lights and ornaments on the bottom three rows."

She followed him inside and, sure enough, Parker was completely draped in tangled twinkle lights and, despite the fact that they weren't untangled yet and he was wearing most of them, he was already trying to put them on the tree as well.

"You're going to wind up tying yourself to the tree," Booth said, setting the bag he was carrying down and going to extricate his son from the lights. Brennan laughed as Parker tried to lift his arms among the tangle of lights in a shrug.

His eyes fell on the bags of presents and widened in surprise. "Are all those for me?"

"Not entirely," she explained. "I also brought gifts from people at the lab, for you and for your dad."

"Oh. I picked out something AWESOME for you… hey, Daddy, we better give Tempe her present from me now," Parker said suddenly. "For the tradition."

Booth thought for a moment and relented. "You can give her _that _thing. Not the one that you made; save that for tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Parker said happily, hurrying off to his room.

"What's going on?" Brennan asked, confused.

"It's a tradition," Booth started to explain. Parker ran back into the room with a large, messily-wrapped box. "It's kind of self-explanatory," Booth said, as Parker handed her the box and stood there grinning at her expectantly.

"Um, okay…" sitting down on the edge of the coffee table, she started to unwrap the present, smiling at Parker suspiciously. "You're not going to give me any hints?"

"Nope!" he said happily. "But I picked it out all by myself! Daddy took me shopping."

She unwrapped the present and opened the box, and smiled. It was pajamas – flannel, two piece pajamas. They were light blue, and covered with pink dolphins. "See, Tempe, they're dolphins! My daddy said you love dolphins, they're your favorites."

"They are," she said, deciding not to point out that dolphins weren't pink. It would probably upset Parker. "Thank you, Parker. This is quite a surprise."

"There's this one too," he said, handing her a bag. She pulled out slippers shaped like dolphins, and laughed.

"Wow, thanks, Parker."

"See, now you'll be ready for Christmas eve with us," Parker explained. "I'm gonna go put mine on!" he yelled, running off.

"See, Christmas Eve, I always give Parker new pajamas, and we put them on early, and eat dinner in them, and decorate the tree, and all that. It's silly, I know, but… he likes it. So when I told him you were coming, he insisted on getting you some pajamas too, so you wouldn't feel left out."

"That was very thoughtful of him. Thank you, Booth."

"You're welcome. So, um, if you don't mind…"

"I'll go put them on," she agreed, getting to her feet.

"Thanks."

When they reconvened in the living room in ten minutes, Brennan was dressed in the pajamas and slippers Parker had given her. They were a bit large, and she had a tank top on underneath the top.

Booth was wearing pajama pants that had a very loud pattern of candy canes and reindeer. Some of the reindeer had little LED noses that blinked red. His slippers were giant fuzzy things, meant to make him look as though he had bear feet instead of human ones. He was also wearing a Santa Claus hat. The only thing that didn't strike her as abnormal about his ensemble was the solid green waffle knit Henley he was wearing with the pajama bottoms. Guessing that Parker picked out the pants and slippers, and not wanting to hurt his feelings, Brennan settled for giving her partner a very amused look and didn't tease him about it verbally.

Parker was wearing a one-piece footy pajama thing that was bright red with snowmen all over it and zipped up the front. He was also wearing a Santa hat like Booth's, and he looked younger than usual in the pajamas to Brennan, more like he had when she had first met him.

"I think this is the last year I'll be able to find some like that in your size, buddy," Booth said, and he sounded sad about it. "You're growing up way too fast."

Brennan decided that he probably didn't mean that literally, so she didn't point out that Parker's growth rate seemed perfectly normal to her.

Parker hugged her excitedly when he saw her in the pajamas he had picked out, and insisted that they begin decorating the tree immediately. Booth let them get started while he went to order pizza.

An hour later, they had the tree halfway done and the pizza was more than halfway gone.

Parker was having a great time, and so were the adults; his enthusiasm and joy was contagious. The tree was taking a long time to get done because the Christmas music that Parker insisted on playing meant that he was often distracted from decorating by singing and dancing to the Christmas music, frequently getting his dad involved as well.

"Tempe, come on, sing with us," Parker begged, dragging her away from the tree. "It's my favorite song, I'll restart it."

"Parker, I can't," she said quickly, not wanting to upset him. But she had just been inexplicably panicked herself, despite the fact that she knew the reasons behind it were irrational.

Seeing how upset she was, Parker asked nervously, "Why not?"

"I… I just can't, okay."

"You can't sing? Everybody can sing Christmas songs, Tempe, it doesn't matter if your voice isn't so good; it's CHRISTMAS!"

"Parker, please. I can't. I'm sorry." Knowing she was upsetting him, she apologized to Booth as well. "I'm sorry," she repeated quietly. "I need… please excuse me." She hurried to the bathroom; they heard the door shut quickly.

"Daddy?" Parker asked nervously.

"I'm not sure," Booth said absently, getting a little thoughtful. "I think I might… I think I know, kind of. It's nothing to do with you, Parker. Listen, why don't you work on the tree for a few minutes. I'll go see what's going on, okay?"

"Okay." Booth gave him an encouraging hug and smile and headed to the bathroom. He knocked quietly and said, "Bones, can I come in?"

After a few moments, she opened the door. She had been crying; her eyes were brighter blue than normal, and her eyelids were red. Her cheeks were bright pink. "What's wrong?" Booth asked quietly, slipping inside just in case Parker got sneaky. He shut the door and watched her pace the small space. She sat down on the edge of the bathtub and stared at her hands. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't upset Parker too much. I tried to get away before he could see…"

"Parker's just worried about you. And so am i. what's wrong, Bones?"

"I… I don't know. I mean, I know, but it's totally irrational, but I can't make it stop…"

She was getting upset again. He squatted down in front of her and covered her hands with his. "What is it, Bones?"

"It's… last time I was singing, you were shot. I thought you died. And before that, when we were singing and dancing around together, like you were just doing with Parker, you got blown up. I just… I got… I panicked back there; I had this sudden horrible fear that something would happen and, and Parker's here, and if anything happened to him… I just… I know it doesn't make sense, I know nothing's going to happen to us tonight, but…"

"It's okay; it's understandable."

"No it's not, it's totally irrational."

"But that doesn't mean it's not understandable," he pressed gently. He hugged her and said, "I didn't realize the similarities, because those are good memories to me. They're separate from what interrupted them, to me. But then, I was unconscious both times. If it had been the other way around, and you'd been the one hurt those times, I think I would probably feel exactly like you do right now. I'm sorry. You know Parker didn't mean to scare or upset you."

"I know, I know, and I know I upset him too; he was having so much fun and I ruined it."

"You can't ruin Christmas, Bones. It's not possible."

"Well, I'm sorry," she said.

"Me too." He hugged her again, and after a few moments he felt her take a deep breath. "Better?"

She nodded and got to her feet, tucking her hair into place and wiping her eyes. He wrapped an arm around her again and nudged her out of the bathroom. Parker was waiting in the hall nervously.

"Can I tell him," she said quietly to Booth.

"Yeah, I guess," he said, surprised.

"I don't want him to think he did something wrong," she explained.

"I'll go make your hot chocolate, Parker. Bones, hot chocolate or coffee?"

"Coffee, please."

She went back into the living room with Parker and sat down on the couch so he could sit next to her. He climbed onto her lap instead, surprising her. Shifting him a bit so he was sideways across her and more comfortable, she said, "I'm sorry I spoiled your fun, Parker."

"I made you sad. It was an accident, I promise…"

"No, you didn't make me sad, Parker. It's just… you remember when your dad got shot?"

Parker nodded, biting his lip nervously. "It was scary."

"Yes. It was scary for me too, because I was there with him when it happened. I… your dad and I were with some of our friends, at this place where people get up on a stage and sing. I was singing a song when the lady came in and shot your dad. And… I hadn't thought about singing again since that happened, until you asked me just now. It just reminded me of that day."

"Oh," Parker said, nodding seriously. "But we're at home; we're not at a party or anything."

"I know, but that reminded me of another time your dad got hurt. It was at my house. We were listening to music and kind of goofing off like you and your dad were doing just now, and he went to get something out of my refrigerator, and a… bad man… had put a bomb in there. Your dad got hurt that time too."

"He told me about that, because he missed my basketball game," Parker said, remembering. "He said he was on fire but you putted it out."

"Put it out. Yes, that happened."

"So now singing and dancing reminds you of those scary things?" Parker asked.

"I guess so," she said, nodding. "I hadn't realized it until now."

"Are you never gonna sing or listen to music again? That would be really sad for you. Singing is fun! Singing Christmas songs is even more fun than regular singing!"

"I know, sweetie. I just… I don't know. It might take a while."

"Maybe I could help you," Parker suggested. "Maybe if we have fun tonight it won't be scary for you next time."

"Maybe," she agreed, because it seemed important to him. And because of that, she was determined to try. "Listen, why don't you turn the music back on, and I'll listen for a while, and then we'll see."

"Okay," Parker agreed. He went back to the stereo, turned it back on, and turned the volume down a bit.

He came back and sat next to her on the couch, scooting in until their sides were touching, and smiled up at her.

Chuckling at the hopeful, adorable look on his face, she jumped in place, a bit startled, when Booth came in carrying a tray of cookies and coffee mugs and said, "Parker! What's with the music?"

"Tempe said it's okay, Daddy," he said defensively, hugging her arm.

"Oh. Sorry. Here's your hot chocolate, buddy, now be careful, don't spill on the couch."

Parker took the mug carefully with both hands; it was brimming with marshmallows. Grinning happily, he took a huge drink of it and emerged with a foamy mustache.

"Very manly," Booth said, winking and handing his partner her coffee. He sat down in a chair perpendicular to the couch and sipped his coffee, watching Parker drinking his cocoa happily. Brennan kept eyeing the unfinished tree, and Booth would have bet anything the current asymmetry of it was driving her nuts.

Sure enough, as soon as she was done with her coffee, she said, "Um, Parker, want to finish up the tree?"

"Okay," he agreed easily, getting to his feet and taking a cookie with him back over to the tree.

Booth was content just to sit and watch for the time being, but Parker wasn't. "Daddy, come on!" he called impatiently after a few minutes.

Distracted by the tree decorating, Parker started singing along to the music again, automatically. Booth cast a glance at Brennan, but she was smiling at the little boy, so he didn't say anything. And, to his even greater surprise, a few minutes later he heard her start to hum along quietly; and then, so quietly that she was almost certainly either just trying to test it out or was unaware she was doing it, she started singing along.

Parker didn't notice at first, but when he did, after she got a little louder, he gave her his biggest grin and said "You sing really pretty, Tempe."

Surprised, she looked at both of them and her cheeks turned a little pink. "Thanks," she said, a bit embarrassed.

"Hey, Parker," Booth said, not wanting to undo any progress by making her too self-conscious. "Looks like it's time for the star, you ready?"

"Yeah!" Parker said excitedly, grabbing the star. Booth scooped him up and set him on his shoulder so he was tall enough to reach.

When he was done, Booth set him on his feet and, after they had admired the tree for several moments, said, "You want to do your favorite song now, Parker? I bet Bones has never heard it."

"Can I?" he asked eagerly. "Tempe, it's a song we did last year at my school Christmas program, it's really funny, please can I show it to you?"

"Of course. I'd love to see it," she said.

Clearly thrilled, he ran over to the stereo to switch out the CD and find the right song. Booth nudged her to the couch and they sat down to watch.

Unfamiliar music started, and Parker scrambled over to stand in front of them, between the sofa and the tree. He was counting under his breath, and when the words started, he began enthusiastically, "I'm getting' nuttin' for Christmas…"

Brennan found herself laughing at the funny lyrics and Parker's enthusiastic performance. When he finished, he bowed deeply, as Booth and Brennan clapped loudly for him on the couch. Booth whistled between his fingers. Parker ran over to them and jumped on them happily.

"That was wonderful, Parker, although it clearly wasn't true at all," Brennan couldn't help but point out.

"Yeah I'm a good boy, right Dad?"

"Yeah, you're all right I guess," his dad agreed half-heartedly.

"Daaaaaaad!" Parker objected as Booth ruffled his hair. "Did you really like it, Tempe? Did it… make you sad?"

"No, it didn't," she promised him. "And I liked it very much. Thank you, Parker."

"What's your favorite Christmas song?" he pressed.

"Oh… I don't know," she said, thoughtfully. "I guess… there's one that my mom used to love; she would sing it all the time, but you need two people to do it right. My brother and I would fight over who got to sing the other part… but whenever she tried to let us both do it without her we would just end up fighting about who was ruining it and getting it wrong," she remembered with a laugh.

"What song?" Parker asked eagerly.

"Um, you haven't played it tonight; it's called Baby, it's cold outside."

Parker thought for a minute and said, "I _think _I heard it before. Is it really hard?"

"Well, there are a lot of words," she admitted, getting a bit nervous as Booth got up and went over to his stereo, and the stack of Christmas music beside it.

"Booth, it's okay," she started, but Parker was giving her big puppy eyes.

"Please can I hear your favorite song, Tempe?"

"Well, I guess if your dad finds it…" she started.

"Daddy, do you know this song?" Parker demanded.

"Yeah," Booth mumbled.

Now intrigued by how uncomfortable Booth was starting to look, she forgot her own previous apprehensions about joining in the singing and dancing and got up to go help him look for the song.

"You don't have to do this just to humor him," Booth muttered to her quietly, scanning the back of a CD case.

"Nice try, Booth. You're helping me. Come on you don't want to disappoint your only son on Christmas Eve, do you?" she asked innocently, echoing his words when he'd invited her over in the first place.

Scowling at her, he muttered, "That's not fair," and put the CD in, skipping to the right track.

Parker squealed with delight from his spot on the couch when they both started singing, his eyes going back and forth between them as they switched lines.

By the time they were halfway through the song, Brennan had quite forgotten Parker was even there, and was trying to remember exactly why this had seemed like such a good idea a few minutes ago, because it was decidedly too much to be singing this song with Booth smiling at her like that and singing as well, and he was entirely too close and his eyes were twinkling entirely too much. He stumbled over some of the words occasionally, but that annoyingly made her enjoy the whole thing even more.

When the song ended, they were staring at each other. It wasn't like they hadn't stared at each other this close or this long before, and while it was one of those things that tended to end abruptly and then pop up in her mind for days (or weeks) later, she usually wasn't as aware of it while it was happening as she was this time.

Suddenly reminded of last Christmas, with Caroline and the mistletoe, and Booth looking so… pleasantly surprised, there wasn't really another way to describe it, her eyes flickered, completely on their own, from his eyes to his mouth, and got stuck there, until something slammed into their legs from the side.

She jumped in surprise, looked down, and saw Parker hugging them both and laughing. "That was funny, good one!" he said appreciatively.

"Uh, yeah," Booth said, sounding a little dazed as he patted Parker's back a bit too enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Brennan murmured to Parker, who was now grabbing both their hands and trying to get them to dance to the song currently playing, 'Rockin' around the Christmas Tree.'

Both seizing on the Parker-sized distraction, they joined in enthusiastically, turning all of their attention onto Parker and off of each other.

It worked, for a while, until sometime later she realized that she and her partner were now dancing to a much, much slower Christmas song, and they were quite alone. When it occurred to her, she looked around, and Parker was nowhere in sight. Booth didn't seem to have realized it yet; or maybe he had but he wasn't as nervous about it as she suddenly was.

Panic started to set in, but then she forced herself to breathe and think. They'd been doing this for some time now, and nobody had been blown up or shot. It was okay, she could totally handle this. Nobody was in danger. All she was doing was dancing with Booth.

As soon as she felt a wave of relief, she got another type of panic, as she realized that there was actually a whole other type of dangerous associated when it came to things like dancing with Booth. Her partner. Her friend. Her partner and friend, whose barely-seven-year-old son was still around somewhere…

Maybe Booth realized things were getting a bit too cozy between them, because when the song ended, he spun her around with a smile, then let her go. Still looking completely comfortable, he said, "I better go find Parker."

Nodding, he was gone before she had formulated a response that seemed adequate. Parker soon came back into the living room, shepherded by Booth, who was carrying a large glass of milk. Parker was carrying a plate of cookies, which he set on the fireplace before taking the milk from his dad and doing the same. Then he ran off towards his room again, as Booth directed her back to the couch.

"He's getting ready for bed," he explained. "We just have one tradition left before he goes to sleep."

"Oh."

"You okay?" he asked.

Realizing she must still look confused or something, she nodded and tried to look encouraging.

"Is it too much? Too much Christmas stuff? I know it's a little intense, but I… I guess I've always been afraid that if I don't make it perfect for Parker, he'll side with his mom next year and I won't get to see him at Christmas."

The confession seemed to have surprised Booth just as much as it had surprised Brennan. As he started to look uncomfortable, she felt at ease again, and determined to ponder that inverse relationship later. Knowing Parker would be back soon, she put a hand on Booth's arm and squeezed lightly. "It is perfect, Booth. But I don't think you have to do anything special with Parker for him to _feel _special. I think he just wants to be with you," she said sincerely.

Knowing that she wasn't just trying to make him feel better; that she wouldn't have said it if from her, it wasn't the result of her own careful personal observations, made it possible for him to believe it completely. "Thanks, Bones," he said gratefully, hugging her somewhat awkwardly, since they were both sitting side by side on the couch.

"Oh brother are you guys _still _being all mushy?" Parker grumbled good-naturedly, coming back into the room with a large book in his hands. "Can't you wait till I go to bed?"

Both were so content at the moment that they were hardly even embarrassed by Parker's remark. Ignoring it, Booth pulled his son up into his lap with a groan. "Your mother needs to stop feeding you. You're getting way too big."

Laughing, Parker said, "I'm never gonna be as big as you, Daddy! So I can always sit in your lap!"

"Well, I'll remind you of that when you bring your prom date over to meet me, and you're sitting on my lap, buddy," he said with a smile.

Parker giggled and handed the book to his dad, squirming to get more comfortable in his dad's lap.

Booth waited for his son to get settled. Parker seemed comfortable, but just as Booth was about to start reading, Parker said, "Tempe can't see the pictures, Daddy," and squirmed again, beckoning for her to come closer to both of them. She scooted closer, until Parker seemed happy. She was pretty much plastered to Booth's side, so that he could hold both sides of the book with his arm around her and the other around Parker, who was almost sideways in his lap, his legs and feet draped across Brennan. Her arm was draped over his legs, keeping them in place, and her cheek was pressed into Booth's shoulder because there wasn't really any other place for it to be in such close quarters.

"Now, can we start?" Booth asked his son.

"Yes," Parker said sweetly, turning to the first page.

Booth cleared his throat and started to read, "Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house…"

When the book was finished, Parker was nearly asleep. "Again, Daddy," he requested drowsily, eyes half-closed.

Booth, knowing his son wouldn't make it very far into a second reading of the book, flipped back to the beginning and began again. Sure enough, Parker was sound asleep by page five. Booth closed the book gently.

"Do you want me to help you up?" Brennan asked quietly.

"Not yet," Booth said, with a content smile. When she gave him a questioning look, he explained, "Despite his earlier promise, I don't actually think he'll be wanting to sit in my lap for that many more years. I have to enjoy it while I can."

She smiled, understanding what he meant, and feeling that the feelings all parents probably felt were probably felt more acutely by Booth, because his time with Parker was already so limited.

She put her cheek back on his shoulder and relaxed, not wanting to risk waking Parker up by moving, thus ending Booth's moment prematurely. Plus, it was quite cozy, sitting on the couch together, the lights dim except for the glowing Christmas tree and the lit fireplace, the Christmas music still playing quietly in the background because no one had bothered to turn it off and the CD had started over again…

Eventually, she realized she was about to nod off to sleep, and doubted that it would be wise to stay on the couch much longer. Booth had told her well before she came over that Parker still believed in Santa, and she had promised not to say anything to contradict his belief. She thought that Parker would probably be able to figure out that Santa couldn't exactly come down a chimney with a lit fire under it without waking three people sleeping in the living room… and Booth would need to put out Parker's presents too.

Slipping out from under Parker's legs carefully, sliding a throw pillow in place of her lap, she checked his face anxiously. He was still sound asleep, his head resting on Booth's chest. Booth was asleep too; she had suspected he was for some time now. They both still had their Santa hats on.

Remembering what Booth had said about treasuring moments like this with Parker, she quietly went into the kitchen and found Booth's camera. She managed to snap two pictures of them before it woke Booth up. He looked at her in confusion and she smiled, waving the camera.

Looking down at the top of his son's head, he smiled, then winced as he felt a twinge in his neck. "I'll take you up on that offer of help now, Bones," he groaned, pulling the Santa hat off Parker's head gently.

She set the camera down and assessed the situation. Booth didn't have enough leverage to get up without seriously jostling Parker. "Do you want me to help you from behind, or try to pick him up?"

"Picking him up would be more likely to work, if you don't mind," he said quietly.

She nodded and leaned over, slipping an arm under Parker's knees and, with Booth's help, sliding the other between Booth and Parker's back. Booth sort of tilted him into her so he leaned into her instead of him, and she stood up, successfully cradling him in her arms.

Feeling rather pleased with pulling that off successfully, she was still staring at Parker somewhat amazed when Booth got to his feet, stretched luxuriously, and then steered her towards Parker's bedroom. She carried him to his bed, where Booth pulled the covers back. She set him down carefully, pulling her arm out from under his neck as she slid the pillow underneath instead. "It worked," she whispered in amazement, when Parker curled over on his side but didn't wake, his mouth opening as his breathing got just a little louder.

Booth switched on his son's nightlight, tucked him in carefully, and kissed his head. He stood up, intending to go, and paused at the look on his partner's face. "What, Bones?"

"He really is a very beautiful little boy, Booth," she said. The tone behind it was completely genuine, and he knew she was giving him what she considered an 'objective' fact.

"Is he symmetrical enough for you?" Booth asked with a smirk.

"He's perfectly symmetrical, even his dimples," she answered, then narrowed her eyes at him. "You were teasing me."

"Just a little. Come on, he's not as cute when you wake him up," Booth said, squeezing her shoulder and pointing her towards the door.

He shut the door gently behind them and put a finger to his lips, tugging her towards his bedroom. Before she could ask what exactly he was doing, he was in his closet, wrestling his way to the back, highest shelf. "Can you give me a hand, Bones?" he called about a minute later.

She wedged herself into the closet behind him, and he passed her a big bag of things. She took the bag and set it outside the closet, then came back to get another one. Booth pulled out one large wrapped box and then said, "Whew. That's it. All right, can you put those under the tree while I fill his stocking?"

"Sure."

She put the presents under the tree as requested, then turned just in time to see Booth about to wash down a cookie with the glass of milk that had been sitting on the fireplace for over two hours. "Booth!" she exclaimed.

"What?" he spluttered.

"Don't drink that! It's been sitting out, in front of the warm fire, for hours!"

"Oh, yeah," he remembered. "Thanks."

He took it into the kitchen and dumped it out, then got himself some water to wash down the cookies. He went back into the living room, set the glass the milk had been in down by the cookie plate, and turned his attention to his partner, who was looking at the tree with all the presents under it.

Remembering what she had once told him about her brother trying to make Christmas for her the first year without her parents, he worried that she might be reliving the painful memory. He turned up the volume on the stereo just a bit and stepped up beside her cautiously, not sure what to say. Suddenly he became very aware of the fact that he was still wearing a Santa hat. He took it off and tossed it towards the sofa hastily, running his hand through his hair in an attempt to fix it – or at least make it look uniformly mussed.

"Thank you for being here, with us. I'm sorry if… it's reminding you of… things."

"It's fine," she said quickly. "It's not being here that's reminding me, it's just… being Christmas that reminds me. This is good though; Parker is very entertaining and distracting."

"Yeah, he is," Booth agreed.

"It's probably better, to associate good things with things like Christmas trees and presents, as well. It'll help… diminish the automatic association with my less pleasant memories…"

Booth was pretty sure there was a compliment in there, somewhere, and that she was trying to say she was glad she was there with them. "Do you miss your family?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"No; I'm glad they're where they are. Anyway, Angela always says there are lots of different kinds of families. She stopped trying to abduct me when I told her I was coming here, anyway."

He knew what she was trying to say, and was glad. "Parker's going to get up really early," he said after a few moments.

"I'm not tired," she said. "Well," she clarified after a moment. "I suppose I am tired. But I'm not sleepy."

Shaking his head with a smile at the distinction, he shifted on his feet and said, "Oh. Okay. Well… what do you want to do, then?"

"You don't have to entertain me, Booth; I know you're tired. You were asleep earlier."

"Nah, I got a second wind," he insisted, hastily muffling a yawn in the back of his hand. "Really, I did," he insisted when he saw the doubtful look on her face. "Well, all right, I'm not ready to box ten rounds, but I'm not about to fall asleep again. Do you want to sit down?"

She nodded in agreement and they sat back down on the couch, Brennan staring absently at the tree again. He thought about thanking her again for singing with Parker, knowing that it had been difficult for her, but didn't want to undo any progress Parker had managed to make in that department by reminding her of it again.

He decided on a safer topic. "Thanks for playing along with all the 'Santa' stuff, Bones."

"Or course. No anthropologist disparages the beliefs of a culture they're studying; the point is to observe them and understand them, not try to destroy them."

"Yeah, but you're not exactly studying Parker and me, are you?"

"Well, I don't think I can ever completely avoid making the observations I've been trained to make…"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway. Thanks."

"Sure, Booth. Um… can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you ever… worry about how Parker will feel when he learns the truth about Santa? Won't he be upset with you for lying to him?" she whispered quietly, just in case Parker had woken up and was lurking around.

"I try not to," he admitted quietly, moving closer to her so they couldn't possibly be overheard. "I think he'll be upset for a little while, but by that time he'll be old enough to understand that even though Santa isn't exactly real in the way Parker believes he is now, the rest of Christmas is very real, and it's more the idea of Santa that matters anyway. I don't think he's quite ready to grasp that idea yet. Probably next year though," he concluded a bit sadly.

She could understand his reasoning, and appreciated the explanation. Stifling a yawn into his shoulder, she suddenly realized she didn't know where he meant for her to sleep. Booth had crashed at her place during busy cases several times, and always took her guest room. The one time they'd ended up at his place, over his objections she had taken Parker's bed, since Booth's feet hung over the edge of it. But that obviously wouldn't work tonight.

He must have been thinking along the same lines because he said, "Um, you can sleep in my room. I made up the bed for you."

"Oh, thanks, Booth. You didn't need to do that. Um, where are you going to sleep?"

"Parker's room."

"On the floor?"

"In a sleeping bag."

"Booth, that's ridiculous!"

"Well, if I sleep on the couch I'll have to set an alarm for about four in the morning to make sure Parker doesn't catch me out here, because then he's going to have a million questions about Santa. I told him when he was three and he wanted to camp out here that Santa won't come if anybody's sleeping in the living room."

"Oh. Okay, then, we'll both stay in your room," she said lightly.

"Bones, I don't think that's a good idea…" he started, tensing slightly as though he wished they weren't sitting quite so closely together now.

"Because of Parker?" she asked.

"No, he wouldn't think anything of it, but…"

"We shared a room in Las Vegas," she reminded him. "And that was a really long time ago. And…" she started to point out all the other times they'd had to share a room while out on a case but he cut her off.

"Okay, okay. Just keep your freezing feet to yourself!" he said firmly, trying to make a joke to cover up any other reasons why he might not have been comfortable sharing a room with her, now.

"I only put them on you to stop your snoring!" she insisted.

"I don't snore," he muttered feebly, knowing it wasn't true. Then he remembered something. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Hmm? Oh, right," she said, remembering after a moment. She got up and rummaged under the tree, pulling out a gift bag. She sat back down and put it in Booth's lap.

He looked at the tag. "This says it's for Parker."

"It is. Well, he's not really going to like it. Don't worry, I got him something he'll have fun with as well. Open it."

Confused, he reached into the bag and pulled out a hardcover book, with a title he didn't recognize. "Flesh and Bone… great, Bones, give my son nightmares. And where's my copy, huh?"

"This is the prototype the publisher sent me. It's not coming out until February."

"I didn't even know you'd finished this one."

"I know. And it's not for Parker to read, Booth. Open it."

Still confused, he opened it and flipped through the first blank page and the title page; then he came to the dedication page. "This book is dedicated to my favorite child, Parker Booth." It was simple, but sweet. "Aww, he's going to love this, Bones. Thank you," he said sincerely.

"Well, I kind of owed him. A character based on him is introduced in this one."

"Seriously? You based a character off of Parker? Wait… is Andy getting a kid?"

Blushing slightly, she said, "Well, I couldn't very well have Cathy have a kid she didn't know about; that wouldn't make any sense."

"Uh-huh," Booth said knowingly, but decided now wasn't the smartest time to pick a fight about whether or not Andy was based on him. "Well, thank you, Bones."

"You're welcome. But um, that's not it, exactly," she said, chewing her lip. "Angela said I should go ahead and tell you now. That's Parker's book."

"Okay, well, you don't mind if I keep it out of his reach after we show him the front page until he's old enough not to be sent to therapy after reading it, do you?"

"No, that's not what I mean. I… remember when we were talking about the bridge thing and all that, and then we just had that case with the spoiled brats at the fancy school… and I don't think that school would have been right for Parker, but I… I think he should be able to go to whatever college he wants when he's older, so, I kind of, um, set up a trust for him, you know, so that all the money that book makes will go into it, for him later, for school."

Booth wasn't sure what to say.

"Please don't be offended, Booth," she begged. "I'm sure you have been planning for Parker's school since the day he was born; I just… I was thinking about things I might want to invest in, and I decided that Parker was a much safer investment than that giant television you wanted. This way if he wants to go to any post-graduate school, medical school, law school, or whatever, he won't have to take out a bunch of student loans or work while he does it. You're completely in control of everything in the account, Booth; I don't have any say in what you or he does with it, and he doesn't ever need to know where it came from; I just… I don't have any children, but you do, and he's very bright, and sweet, and… you should make more money than I do because what you do every day is so much more important than writing books, Booth, and I'm sorry that the government can't begin to compensate you adequately for what you really do, but I as your partner appreciate how hard you work and, I just… you don't deserve to have to worry about college for Parker; it's just not right… please don't be mad. Please."

"I'm not mad," he said after a long time. "I… if anybody else had done something like this, I would be insulted, offended, and upset. But I know you're being genuine here, and thoughtful, and… nice. And I appreciate that you thought about how I would feel about this before you went ahead and did it."

"So, you're okay with it?" she asked, just to be sure. He nodded. "Thank you," she sighed with relief.

He laughed and said, "I'm pretty sure I'm the one who should be thanking you, Bones. Thank you. I… feel like that's not a good enough word right now."

"I'm just relieved you're not upset," she said genuinely.

"Ah, I can't stay mad at you," he said lightly, wrapping his arms around her. He didn't mean to, but he inadvertently reminded her of the only time she knew she had genuinely upset him; when his brother had been here.

The residual guilty feelings she still harbored about that hit hard. She slid her arm across his middle and put her head on his shoulder, not saying anything.

He said thank you again, a bit nervous when she got quiet, but she had run through her lists of reasons for Parker's gift at top speed. If she hadn't been Bones, he would have accused her of babbling. He rubbed her arm lightly. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, thanks. I just… I'm relieved. There's something for you to sign, to be the trustee of the account. It's in my office."

"Okay. I don't think we should tell him about it until he's ready to go to college though," he said thoughtfully. "I want him to work hard at school, so he can get into the best school possible. That way it'll be like a reward for his hard work and an incentive to do the best he can at college."

"That's a good idea. The way it's set up now, if there's anything left in the trust he would get it at thirty. We can change that if you want."

"That's fine for now. As long as he doesn't turn out like… as long as he's not going to do anything stupid with it that's fine with me."

Brennan was sure he had been about to say 'turn out like Jared,' but it was something neither of them wanted to talk about.

They sat quietly for a long time, both using the time to get comfortable and relaxed again. Brennan was still trying to stop thinking about all the other ways she had feared Booth might react to Parker's gift, and now trying not to think about the whole fiasco that had recently accompanied Jared Booth to DC, her brain wasn't nearly as tired as the rest of her – or as Booth was. She tolerated him snoring and, she was almost positive, drooling on her shoulder for about five minutes before deciding it was time to relocate.

"Booth, come on, get up. I'm not carrying you to bed," she said lightly, nudging him to his feet.

He gave a half-awake chuckle at the comment and stumbled to his bedroom, flopping down on top of the covers immediately. Deciding to leave him there for the time being, she went into his bathroom and, after minimal poking around, found an unopened toothbrush. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and went back into the bedroom.

Quickly deciding on the easiest way to do this, she pulled Booth's giant bear claw slippers off his feet, threw the covers back on the side of the bed he wasn't lying on top of, and started trying to roll him over. "Come on, move over," she insisted.

Grumbling, he rolled the direction he felt her pushing him. She threw the covers on top of him, toed off her dolphin slippers, and got in, with the unintended bonus of already having her spot warmed up for her.

She thought it would be a long time before she fell asleep, but to her surprise, she was nodding off almost immediately.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"He caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!" Parker yelled, running into his dad's room and jumping up on the foot of the bed. Bouncing in place on what turned out to be his dad's legs, he called excitedly, "Tempe! Daddy! Santa Claus came, come on!"

"Parker, what time is it?" Booth groaned. His voice sounded weirdly muffled. The reason, he discovered as he opened his eyes, was because his nose seemed to be buried in his partner's hair… and, well, she had a lot of hair.

Not only that; he seemed to be pretty much glued to her from behind. Hoping she didn't mind too much, he muttered an apology to her as he propped himself up on one elbow to look at Parker.

"Five?" Parker asked hopefully, in response to Booth's question.

"Five? The rule is six, mister. Come on, you, back to bed." Moving quickly, Booth grabbed him under his arms and pulled him up the bed, tickling him lightly.

Squealing, Parker said, "Daddy! Come on, I'm awake! I can't wait a whole hour!" he objected, even as he burrowed under the covers between the two sleepy adults. Since Brennan hadn't spoken to him yet, Parker scooted into her, nearly nose to nose on the pillow with her, and whispered, "Tempe, are you awake?"

She couldn't help it, she burst into laughter. Parker squealed in delighted surprise and hugged her around the neck. She hugged him back; he was very warm, soft, and cuddly in his footy pajamas, and she hadn't gone to sleep nearly as early as he had done.

Parker tried to be still and quiet, he really did, but it _was _Christmas morning. By five thirty, Booth knew they'd never get back to sleep and decided Parker had respected the six o'clock rule in spirit, if nothing else.

"All right, on your mark, get set, go," he finally announced to the silent room.

With a whoop of delight, Parker scrambled over his dad and ran out of the room.

The adults followed much more slowly, Booth extremely glad he had set the timer on the coffee pot for five fifteen, just in case.

Brennan yawned and headed for the kitchen automatically, but Booth, knowing she was going for coffee, said, "I'll get it," around a yawn and pointed her to the couch.

"Thanks," she said sleepily.

"Don't thank me; I'm giving you the hard job – you have to keep Parker from tearing into everything until I get back and get the camera ready."

Thinking that it couldn't be _that _hard, she merely nodded and went over to the sofa, curling up to stay warm, using the arm rest for a pillow.

Parker was eyeing the mounds of presents eagerly, trying to peer into his stocking. "Parker, can you come over here please?"

Somewhat reluctantly, Parker came over to her. "Come help me think about how we're going to get your dad's present out here," she suggested, holding her hand out for him.

He climbed into her lap and said, "Umm, maybe we should bring it out at the very end?" he suggested. "I could distract him with my stuff while you sneak away and bring it in?"

"Uh-huh. I notice that plan conveniently means that you'll still get to open all of your things first under that plan," she pointed out, tickling his sides.

He squirmed and exclaimed, "It's CHRISTMAS, Tempe, I need my presents!!!! I can't wait any longer!" he insisted, turning the light tickle into a huge squirming wrestling match.

She played along, trying to keep him restrained, which was making him giggle. It was several moments before she realized that Booth was pointing a video camera at them. "And here we have the traditional Christmas morning wrestling match," he said to the camera, catching both their attention.

Parker looked at his dad for a moment, and then recovered enough to yell, "NOW, daddy??"

"Okay, buddy, do your stocking first," he said. "Bones, release the hound!"

She let go of Parker, who laughed as he scrambled over the coffee table and headed straight for his stocking. Booth kept the camera pointed at his son as he carefully carried two cups of coffee over to the sofa.

"Thank you," Brennan said quietly as she took the coffee cup her partner offered, as Parker let out an excited squeal, pulling out several pairs of funny socks from the top of his stocking.

Laughing, and looking at Booth in amusement, Brennan watched him set up a mini tripod on the table so that he didn't have to man the camera nonstop – at least not before a cup of coffee or two.

They watched, waking up slowly, as Parker pulled candy canes and chocolate out of his stocking, along with several toy cars and some bath toys. When he was done with his stocking, he practically dove underneath the tree into the mound of presents.

"Um, Booth…" Brennan started.

"Just wait," he said quietly. "I want to see what he does by himself, if he…" he trailed off as Parker emerged with a huge grin, holding a small, messily wrapped package in one hand, waving it triumphantly over his head. Tucked against his body with the other arm was a larger, also messily-wrapped gift.

Parker got to his feet clumsily among all the gifts and made his way over to them. "These are my presents for you," Parker explained, as Booth got the camera in his hand again to track his son's movements. "I made them," he said proudly, leaning into Brennan's legs and putting the smaller package in her lap. It was surprisingly heavy, she realized. "Open it, Tempe!" he insisted excitedly.

"Are you sure you want me to go first, Parker?" she asked, surprised.

"Uh-huh, ladies first, right Daddy?"

Shooting her partner a pointed look for teaching Parker something she knew he regarded as good manners, but which she couldn't help but think of as outdated chivalry, she decided not to pick a fight with her partner about it so early in the morning. On Christmas. On camera.

She unwrapped the gift, and pulled out a ceramic coffee mug that had clearly been hand-painted by Parker. It had several asymmetrical stars and hearts all over it, a painted red handle, and the words 'Tempe's coffee – don't touch!' on it in Parker's precious childish handwriting. On the bottom of the mug it said 'Love Parker.'

"Do you like it?" Parker asked nervously, biting his lip. "I made it for you to use at work so nobody else takes your coffee by accident, because Daddy said that happens to him sometimes at work and I know you work even more than Daddy."

"Thank you, Parker, this is wonderful," she said, smiling at him.

"You like it?"

"I love it," she assured him, hugging him. "Thank you so much; I can tell you worked very hard on this."

"Daddy took me to this place where you can make things out of clay… but you have to be a grown up to do that part. They had things already made you could pick out and pain though; that part was for kids."

"You took Parker to the pottery place we went to with Sweets?" Brennan asked Booth, surprised. Booth had protested about going there loudly enough… although he did seem to enjoy it at the end… not to mention the fact that he was apparently some kind of pottery-savant. His horse had been incredible.

Parker, still hugging her round the neck, turned to his dad. "Daddy, your turn!" he said.

"Give me the camera, Booth."

He passed her the camera over Parker's head as Parker scooted up into her lap to watch his dad open the gift. "Can I help?" he asked, wanting to hold the camera.

She reached around him to help hold the camera but let Parker hold it unsteadily. "See, look in the screen to see where you're pointing it," she explained quietly, tilting the camera up so that it now got Booth's face, not just his chest.

"I can't hold it still enough," Parker objected after a few frustrating moments of trying.

"Here, buddy, come help me open it," Booth insisted. Parker slid along the couch to his dad and pulled off the bow, putting it on his dad's head as Booth unwrapped the gift. It was a hand painted picture frame, made at the same place where he'd made the coffee mug, although Booth hadn't been allowed to see it before. The picture frame had Parker's hand prints over and over in various colors, some overlapping slightly. He had clearly had assistance with the concept from one of the people who worked in the children's section, Booth mused. At the bottom of the frame Parker had written, "I love you Daddy."

"Do you like it?" Parker asked.

"It's perfect, Parker. Thank you."

"I didn't know what picture to put in it," Parker said.

"I think I've got a good one," Brennan said, remembering the one she had taken the night before of the two of them asleep.

Ruffling his son's hair, Booth said, "All right, now, are you ready to tear into your presents?"

"Yes," Parker said eagerly, bouncing in place on the sofa.

"Okay. Just remember the rules. Read the tags out loud first before you tear off the paper, so we know who all of them came from for your thank you notes."

"I will, Daddy," Parker promised, as Booth set the camera back on the tripod, pointed at the space he had left clear in front of the tree for Parker to sit and open his gifts.

"Okay, go for it!" Booth said, shooing him off with a laugh.

Parker shifted from foot to foot as he surveyed the presents, trying to decide which to open first. He finally settled for grabbing the one closest to him. "To Parker, from Jack Hodgins," he read carefully from the tag. "Dr. Hodgins gave me a present? Yay!" Parker said happily, tearing into it. It was an ant farm, sans ants, thankfully. "Wow, Daddy, look, they live in goo!"

"They eat that 'goo,'" Brennan explained to Booth. "And tunnel through it. It's a relatively new type of ant farm. Hodgins was thrilled when he found it. I think he bought one for himself too. You can order the ants or you can collect them from outside."

"Great, Rebecca's going to love that," Booth muttered, although Brennan detected a hint of amusement in his voice as he said it.

Parker was already into the next gift. "It's from Mr. Max!" he called excitedly. "Cool!" he yelled, holding it up to the camera. It was a children's experiment kit, of how to grow your own crystals.

Parker was about to open the kit and start trying it out immediately, but Booth stopped him. "Hold on, bub, if you play with everything right away we'll be here until Valentine's Day."

"Oh yeah," Parker said, remembering the other presents.

He turned back to the pile and opened the next gift. "From you," he read, smiling at Brennan. He ripped open the paper and said, "Cool! It's a ball… but it's got something on it…" He hurried over to them with the football in hand. "What does it do, Tempe?"

"It measures how fast you throw the ball," she explained, showing him.

"Awesome!" he said. "Daddy, look, we can play football and know how fast we throw!"

"Yeah, that's neat, buddy," Booth said sincerely. He examined the football while Parker hugged Brennan tightly and went back to his presents.

"I tried to get him things you could use together," she explained quietly to Booth as Parker opened another gift.

"What've you got there, Parker?" Booth asked. Parker held up a maroon sweater with giant moose knitted into the pattern. The expression on his face showed how truly disgusted he was. "Uh, I think that's probably from Grandma," Booth said. "Okay, Park, we'll take a picture of you in it for her later and then you never have to see it again. Open up another one."

In addition to a book about dinosaurs from Brennan, Parker had soon made his way through several video games for his handheld gaming system, a few coloring books, a remote control car, several new DVDs, a hockey jersey exactly like one Brennan remembered seeing Booth in one weekend, only in Parker's size, a new baseball glove, walkie talkies, and an official FBI baseball cap.

He was thrilled with all of them, and getting eager to start playing with everything, especially when he opened the next gift from Brennan. "Wow, remote control helicopters!" he squealed. "Two, look, Daddy, you can make them shoot each other with lasers!"

"That's awesome," Booth said, getting up and going over to Parker to look at the box. Brennan laughed; it seemed that it wasn't just Parker who was ready to start playing with his gifts.

When Parker had bounced up and down in excitement about that present enough, he opened the largest one, which was from his dad. "A caster board!" he squealed, throwing his arms around Booth's middle. "Daddy, thanks!"

"You're going to have to wear all your pads and helmet with this, buddy."

"I will, I will," Parker promised eagerly. "Thank you, Daddy!"

"You're welcome, buddy. Are you done with all your presents?"

"Um, I think so," he said, looking around at the sea of opened presents and paper lying around.

"Okay. Well, why don't you start…"

"It's your turn, daddy!" Parker exclaimed suddenly, pointing.

Booth turned around, confused, and saw that Parker was pointing at his partner, who was wheeling in a magnificent looking office chair that had a big ribbon and bow on it. Booth went over to help her maneuver it, not noticing that Parker had decided it was his turn to be camera man again.

"Wow, Bones," Booth said enthusiastically, checking out the chair. "This beats the one you helped me get at work hands down."

"It's been calibrated taking your body mass and structure into account, and it shouldn't need any adjusting, but if…" she started to explain, but he had already sunk into the seat with an appreciative, overly-huge sigh, eyes closing.

"This is the most comfortable chair in the history of the world, Bones. Thank you. I'm going to need to install more security in my office to keep this from wandering off."

"I'm glad you like it," she said sincerely.

"I love it. But you didn't have to…"

"Guess you were right, Tempe, Daddy did want a new chair," Parker marveled.

Laughing, Booth said, "Yeah, I did. Okay, you guys finish Christmas without me; I'll just sit here in this chair the rest of my life."

"Daddy, you can't!" Parker objected, laughing.

He set the camera down carefully on the coffee table and came over, grabbing his dad's hands. "Come on, Daddy!"

Booth pretended to be refusing to get up for a while. Parker tugged Booth's hands futilely for a few minutes, then switched tactics, whispering something to Booth while grinning suspiciously at Brennan.

Booth laughed and said, "All right, go get it; do you know where it is?"

Parker nodded and hurried off to get the present, while Booth went back to the sofa, nudging his partner along, since she was looking at him suspiciously.

"Daddy, this is heavy," Parker called, awkwardly carrying a wrapped package about the size of a shoebox.

"Do you need help?" Booth asked immediately.

"No I got it," he insisted, plopping the present down in Brennan's lap.

"Wait," Booth said suddenly, just as she had started to rip off the wrapping. "Don't do that one yet."

Confused, but humoring him, she waited while he left the room. He came back with a small, beautifully wrapped box. "Daddy, what's that?" Parker asked, not liking to be out of the loop.

"You'll see," he said, placing it on top of the larger box as he sat back down. "Um, do this one first. please."

Curious to see what it was, Parker leaned over the back of the couch between their faces, unable to stand quite still.

"Open it, open it, open it!" he chanted eagerly. Booth pretended to push him out of the way, ruffling his hair.

"Calm down."

Brennan opened the box and smiled. It was a beautiful necklace, with two dolphins and a pearl. "Thank you, Booth. I… thank you."

There were tears in her eyes, but she was smiling at him. He let out a sigh of relief; he had been worried it might be too personal of a gift.

Parker, as usual, helped lighten the suddenly intense mood. Leaning over the back of the couch even further, he nearly knocked heads with his father as he looked back and forth between them. "Are you gonna be all mushy again or open your other present so I can play?" he demanded.

In response, Booth pulled him over the back of the couch and started tickling him. "Hey, you behave yourself. It's not too late to have Santa take back some of those presents!"

"I'm good, I'm good!" Parker insisted, sitting up between them, slightly out of breath. To prove how well-behaved he was, he asked politely, "Do you like the necklace, Tempe?"

"I love it, Parker."

"Are dolphins your favorite animals?" he asked, leaning into her to look at the necklace more closely.

"Yes, they are."

"I like them too. They're funny. Want me to help you put it on?" he asked politely.

Booth rolled his eyes and said, "All right, Parker. Remind me to talk to you about 'overkill' later." He let his son fumble with the tiny clasp for nearly a minute before taking over for him. "There."

"Okay, do this one now!" Parker insisted, patting the present still in her lap.

She opened it, and gasped. It was a small sculpture of a dog, about five pounds. It was painted beautifully, and it looked just like the dog that she had wanted to adopt. Booth had the unpleasant job of telling her that the dog had been put to sleep. He had held her while she cried over the senseless, pointless death of the dog for the crime of a human.

"Daddy made it," Parker said eagerly.

"He did? You did?" she asked, unable to hide how impressed she was.

"Yeah, well, I figured a dog couldn't be much harder to make than a horse," he said, shrugging, like it was no big deal.

"Booth, this is beautifully crafted; it's perfectly proportional, and the detailing is remarkable…"

"Angela painted it," Booth said quickly. "I mean, I don't want you to think I had anything to do with that part of it. I just made it, and then I thought it looked kind of weird unpainted, so I asked her if she could paint it to look like… like him," he trailed off, not wanting to make her too sad.

"Thank you," she said, so quietly he almost didn't hear it. She was staring at the dog, examining it with the intensity he usually saw her examine really old bones with.

"I wanted to get you a _real _dog," Parker said, patting the sculpture on the head. "But Daddy said he didn't think you really had time for a dog and if you did, you would want to pick him out yourself."

"That's true," she admitted a bit sadly.

"Parker, buddy, why don't you go start playing with your toys," Booth suggested gently.

Parker was all for that. After hugging Brennan and planting a slightly sloppy kiss on her cheek, Parker said, "Merry Christmas, Tempe!" and scurried back over to his stack of presents.

"I'm sorry you couldn't keep him," Booth said quietly, sliding over to fill the spot Parker had vacated.

"Me too," she said sadly. "Thank you, Booth. This… I know you thought he was dangerous, but this shows that you appreciate how I felt about it, even if you don't feel the same way. That means a lot. And it really is beautifully made; I don't know how you do it."

"I love my chair," he said, wrapping an arm around her.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Brennan thinking about both of the gifts Booth had given her, while Booth did the same. As it occurred to him that they still hadn't shown Parker the book she had written for him, he started to do it.

He reached for the gift bag, which was still on the coffee table from the night before, but she stopped him, a hand on his arm. "Let him play, he can see it later."

"Okay," Booth shrugged, relaxing back into the sofa again.

They watched Parker play with his remote control car. He ran it under the tree and came across another unwrapped present. He pulled it out and examined it. "To Parker from Angela," he read carefully to himself. "Miss Angela," he smiled, remembering Brennan's friend. He opened the present with his back turned to the adults, who, he thought somewhat grumpily, now seemed far more interested in talking to each other than in paying attention to him anyway.

The present contained a bunch of art supplies; finger paints, water colors, crayons, pastels, even sidewalk chalk. There were sketch pads of all sizes, and… he wrinkled his nose as he picked up something funny looking. It was a headband with a big springy thing on it, with a clump of plant on the end of it.

There was a note attached to it. He read it carefully, sounding out some of the words under his breath. "Parker – Merry Christmas. Please do me a favor and put this on your dad's head – or Brennan's. Thanks, sweetie! See you next time you come to the lab! Love, Angela."

Puzzled, but curious, Parker got to his feet, holding the headband behind his back and sneaking around behind the couch. It was easy because his dad and partner were talking about something quietly and not looking at him at all.

He snuck up behind them and put the headband on his dad's head.

"What the…" Booth started, trying to look at it. He pulled the sprig down to see it, on its flexible string, and groaned. "Parker, where'd this come from?" he demanded.

"Miss Angela," Parker said. "She told me to put it on one of you. Why, what is it?" he asked curiously.

"Mistletoe," Booth explained, quickly averting his eyes from his partner.

"Angela is dead," she said quietly.

"Why? What does it do?"

"Nothing," they both said quickly.

"Oh. That doesn't make sense," Parker said, frowning at them both. "Is it something secret?"

"No. it's… a tradition. Like other Christmas traditions. It's just um… people hang it up around places, and then, uh, you know, if two people are under it together, they're supposed to, uh, kiss each other."

"OH!" Parker said. Then he thought for a moment and said, "Ew! I'm glad they don't have any of that at school!"

Booth laughed and said, "I'm sure you'd be very popular."

"Gross, Dad. So, come on, aren't you going to kiss now? That was the whole point of this, right?"

Both adults blushed at that, but Parker crossed his arms firmly and scowled at them both.

"Parker," his dad said, in a tone that meant plainly, 'don't push it.' "Why don't you play with your toys while I go start breakfast," he said firmly, getting to his feet.

He hurried into the kitchen and they heard him start taking things out of cabinets – loudly. Parker looked at Brennan nervously. "I just did what Angela asked in the note – did I do something bad?" he asked, eyes tearing up.

"No, sweetie," she promised immediately, pulling him to her in a hug. He curled into her sideways, hugging her round the middle. "Angela was just teasing us a little, playing a little joke on us with your help. But sometimes you don't want to be teased about certain things, you know?"

"Yeah," Parker agreed seriously. "One time I spilled my drink on my pants at lunch and everyone made fun of me. They called me Pee-Pee Parker. It was NOT funny," he said firmly.

"I agree, that isn't funny," she said. "This isn't entirely like that though."

"Why?"

"Well, because you didn't really wet your pants; you only spilled on them."

"So you really already kissed with mistletoe before? Yuck," Parker said, wrinkling his nose in disdain.

Brennan hadn't expected Parker to make that connection. Somewhat embarrassed, she said, "We had to last year. A lady we know made us… well, made me."

"Oh. Was Daddy mad then too?"

"I didn't think he was, but maybe," she mused thoughtfully. She patted him on the knee and set him on his feet. "Can you play with your new things while I go talk to your dad?"

"Uh-huh," he agreed.

She watched him until she was satisfied that he was busying himself with his new video games, then went into the kitchen. Booth was mixing batter for something – pancakes, she guessed – and was mixing them with an inordinate amount of force.

He still had the mistletoe headband on as well. She decided not to point it out. "Um, Booth, are you okay? Angela's just trying to be funny, she doesn't mean anyth…"

"Yeah, I know. I'm perfectly aware that none of you people seem to think anything means anything. What's Parker doing?"

"He's playing his new video game. He was alarmed by your reaction. As am I."

He shrugged and continued mixing the batter. "Forget it. Like you said, it's _nothing._"

Clearly, that wasn't the truth. Trying to think like Sweets for a moment, she ran back everything he had just said and done and tried to think about it. There was a lot of exaggeration in there, she was sure. But the more she thought about it, the more 'none of you people seem to think anything means anything' started to go from nonsense to Booth trying to explain how he felt.

Last year, she had sort of told him about the fact that she was going to kiss him and then just sort of lunged at him as soon as Caroline was in the room. And she had been firm on emphasizing that it had meant nothing. She had _meant _that because she was kissing him to appease Caroline, it meant nothing. But maybe he had interpreted it as, kissing you means nothing to me. In which case, she could see why he might be hurt by that, even last year, let alone this year, after all that had been happening recently…

And when she had said that Angela didn't mean anything, she had been trying to keep Booth from getting upset with Angela for including him in her ongoing campaign she was always waging with her best friend, to get them together.

"I'm sorry, Booth," she said quietly. Something in her tone got his attention; he stopped stirring and looked her in the eyes for the first time since Parker had attacked them with Angela's little gift. "I didn't mean… I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry."

He nodded and went back to stirring, but he looked much calmer and more relaxed now, and was stirring at a normal pace.

"Do you want some help?" she asked after a few moments.

"You can set the table if you want," he said, sounding just a bit too polite and casual.

She set the table, which didn't exactly take very long, and leaned against the counter, watching him making the pancakes.

"I'm putting chocolate chips in Parker's. I'm assuming you'd prefer plain."

"Yes, please. Um, look, Booth…"

"Let's just forget about it, please," he said quickly, looking at her sideways before turning his attention back to the pancakes. "It's Christmas. Let's just… forget it."

She nodded warily, despite the fact that he wasn't looking at her anymore. "Booth," she said cautiously after he had finished half a stack of pancakes.

"What?"

"It would be a lot easier to forget about it if you would take it off."

"Huh?" he asked, dropping the spatula into the pan and turning to her in confusion.

She eyed the bobbing mistletoe above his head pointedly. He snatched it off his head and set it on the counter. "Forgot," he muttered.

She thought for a moment, biting her lip. Deciding it couldn't do any more damage and might actually be helpful, she kissed him on the cheek and said, "Merry Christmas, Booth," before going back into the living room to play with Parker.

She had kissed him on the cheek before, and he hadn't objected to it then, so she didn't see why he should mind now. She was hoping he might find some significance in the fact that she'd waited until he removed the mistletoe this time. She had been attempting to indicate that she was still thankful for spending Christmas with them, and for the gifts and everything, and for his friendship, without being 'required' to do so by the mistletoe or by Angela.

"What are you doing?" she asked Parker, looking for a distraction.

He came over and showed her his video game.

She sat down on the edge of the armchair so she was about Parker's height. Leaning back into her, he explained what he was doing while he played the game. She listened a bit too enthusiastically, determined not to think about anything kissing-related anymore.

She was so focused on Parker and his video game that she actually jumped when Booth came in and called, "Breakfast is ready!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Parker said enthusiastically, running into the kitchen.

Brennan followed, remarking, "He's very enthusiastic this morning."

"Of course he is, it's Christmas!" Booth answered, and she was glad to see he was quite cheerful again himself.

Parker explained what he'd learned about his new games already while they ate. When they finished breakfast, Parker insisted on flying his new helicopters. Booth was all for flying them indoors, until brennan pointed out that until they learned how to control them, it might be safer for things like Booth's television set if they practiced outdoors.

Seeing her point, Booth and Parker dressed warmly and went outside, after Brennan insisted that she would be fine entertaining herself for a little while inside. She hadn't exactly brought the sort of clothes for playing outdoors in the snow.

She decided to clean up a little while they were outdoors so that Booth wouldn't have to do it before taking Parker over to Rebecca. She cleaned up the kitchen from the pancake mess and started the dishwasher, making another pot of coffee as well. After drinking half a cup, she started gathering up all the wrapping paper in a big plastic bag and was about halfway done when Booth came inside, grinning hugely. His cheeks were red from the cold. "Bones, i… that's what I thought. Quit cleaning up my mess and come play with us. Parker wants to show you the helicopter and then we're going to play with the football you gave him," he explained as he found the football.

"Booth, the jacket I wore over here isn't even waterproof and…" she started.

"I know, but it's Christmas. Come on, you can wear some of my stuff; it'll be huge on you but there aren't any paparazzi lurking in the bushes or anything, come on."

He pulled her into his bedroom and pulled out some Under Armour from a drawer, along with some warm sweatpants, thermal socks, a long-sleeved shirt, and an FBI sweatshirt. While he left her to pull all of those clothes on, he went into his front closet and grabbed his puffy coat. It actually wasn't too cold outside – it was only a little below freezing. But he knew the clothes would be loose on her, so they wouldn't be as insulating as her own clothes.

He grabbed a scarf, fleece hat, and some gloves, got his spare snowboots, and took them all back to her. He knocked on the door clumsily among all the clothes. "Bones, can I come in?"

"Yeah," she said, opening the door for him. She had everything on and was rolling up the sleeves of the sweatshirt so she could use her hands.

"Here," he offered, dropping all the stuff he'd brought on the bed. He finished rolling up the cuffs and, while she was pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail, bent over and started tucking the hem of the sweatpants into the socks.

"Booth, I think I can get dressed by myself," she objected.

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave Parker out there alone for very long," he said with a shrug, holding the boot in place for her foot. "They're going to be really big. Actually… you might do better with Parker's boots. I got them a size big for him so he can wear them all winter, and I think your feet are closer to his size than mine."

Before she could object to borrowing clothing – even outerwear – from a seven year old, Booth had rushed off again.

When he came back, she was tucking the scarf down the front of the jacket. "I feel like a marshmallow. It's not that cold out, Booth," she objected, nonetheless lifting her foot obediently when he put the boot down next to it.

It was a bit snug with the thick socks but it was actually a pretty good fit. "Parker has really big feet for his age," Booth said with a shrug and a smile.

"Then he'll probably be at least as tall as you," she observed. "Your feet _are _quite large."

Deciding it was best not to mention the immediate joke that had come to mind, knowing she wouldn't get it and he'd have to explain it to her, Booth coughed a bit and said, "Yeah. Well, you look warm enough now." He got to his feet quickly and added, "Almost," before plopping the hat on her head, tugging it down way too low.

She swatted his hands away in amusement and adjusted the hat, following him out of the room and out of the apartment, feeling a bit clumsy in the oversize clothes. The gloves were especially large, so she wouldn't have a lot of dexterity at the moment.

Parker waved at them as they came outside, and flew his helicopter towards them, concentrating hard.

"Wow, good job, buddy!" Booth called, picking up his own remote and maneuvering his own toy into the air. "This is a great present, Bones. These things are a hoot."

"I had a feeling you would enjoy it," she said, watching as they flew the small things around for a few minutes.

"Ready to play football now, Parker?" his dad finally asked.

"Yeah, okay. Tempe, are you going to play with us?" he asked eagerly.

"I'll try… but with these gloves on and all these clothes I don't know how successful I'll be."

Booth threw the ball, which was soft, to Parker, who caught it clumsily against his chest and cheered for himself excitedly. He looked at the display and called, "24, Dad!"

"I can throw it way harder, but you know, I don't want to hurt him," Booth said to her.

"I'm sure," she said, amused that he felt the need to point that out.

Parker threw it back to his dad as hard as he could. His aim wasn't very accurate yet, and Booth had to run to catch it. He tossed it to Brennan, who caught it and threw it to Parker. Soon, Parker tired of just playing catch and they were playing monkey in the middle. It quickly turned into a game of tag/dodgeball, where not only the football but several snowballs as well were used, and ended with Parker trying to hide behind Brennan in an attempted escape from his dad, who decided that it would be much easier to tackle them both into the nearest snowbank than try to get around Brennan to get to Parker. They were all laughing.

Getting to his feet and brushing himself off, Booth noticed how red Parker and Brennan's cheeks both were, and pushed up his sleeve to check his watch. "Uh-oh. We've been out here a while, bub. You need to go in and get changed and packed up to go to your mom's."

"Daddy… do I have to?" Parker whined.

"Yeah, you do pal."

Grumbling, Parker let his dad pull him to his feet and brushed snow off himself while Booth pulled his partner to her feet as well. "I don't like Mom's Christmas," Parker whined as they headed inside.

"Why not?" Brennan asked curiously.

"It's got too many rules," Parker complained. "I'm the only kid there and I'm not allowed to touch anything, and all my aunts and my grandmother talk to me like I'm a baby and pinch my cheeks and stuff." He pulled his hat off as they went inside and added, "Nobody talks to me at the table either."

"I know, buddy, but your mom wants you there," Booth said. "Just remember, they're all going to give you presents, that'll be fun, right?"

"Maybe," he said doubtfully. "But they usually give me clothes and other boring stuff."

"Well, it's the thought that counts," Booth tried half-heartedly. "Listen, I want you to be polite at your mom's, no matter how boring it is. If she thinks I'm encouraging you to be rude and to embarrass her in front of her family…"

"Yeah, I know. She won't let me come over as much," Parker said sadly, taking himself off to his room to change.

"I better go help him," Booth realized. "He'll try to wear his pajamas over there if I'd let him."

Brennan nodded and went to Booth's room to change into the clothes she'd worn over the night before. She had time to brush her hair and wash her face, a bit too aware that she didn't have any makeup with her, before Parker ran into the bedroom and jumped on the foot of the bed, watching her pull her hair back in a ponytail to hide the fact that it hadn't been styled in many, many hours.

"Hey, Parker. What's going on?"

"Daddy's packing my presents I'm taking with me. I'm leaving some here," he explained. "Are you coming with us to drop me off?"

"I don't know… what did your dad say?"

"He said you probably wanted to go home. Tempe, please come with us."

"I can just say goodbye to you here, Parker. You should get some time alone with your dad…"

"No, I'm not asking for me," he insisted. She set the brush down on the dresser and came over to him, crouching down in front of him curiously.

"Then why are you asking?"

"For my dad," he explained quietly, glancing to the open door nervously. "He gets sad when he has to drop me off. I get sad too, but I'm not alone. Please don't leave Daddy alone on Christmas. He won't be sad if you're with him."

Touched by how sincere and thoughtful Parker was, and how important this clearly was to him, she smiled reassuringly. "Okay, Parker. If it's important to you, I'll stay with him. But you know what?"

"What?"

"He'd miss you no matter who he was with or what he was doing. He always misses you."

"Yeah. I miss him too… but sometimes it's not as sad as other times. And it's saddest right after we say goodbye. Please, Tempe?"

"Okay, Parker. I'll come with you, and I'll stay with him after we drop you off."

"Thanks," Parker said, looking relieved as he hugged her around the neck tightly.

She hugged him back, feeling sorry for him that he couldn't spend more time with his father. "Come here, I forgot to give you one more present."

Excited, he smiled at her. "Another present?"

"Well, don't get too excited. This one isn't as much fun as the others. It's more symbolic."

"What's symbolic?" he asked.

"Symbolic? It's the adjectival form of the word 'symbol.'"

He wrinkled his nose at her and said, "What does that mean?"

"Sorry. It means… something, usually a material object, that has another significance and meaning associated with it, usually something abstract."

Parker still looked confused, although he thought hard for a minute and asked, "Um, is it like the dog Daddy made you?"

"Yes!" she said, surprised that he'd grasped the concept from her unclear explanation. "It's exactly like that!"

She took his hand and led him back out to the living room, where Booth was pulling a sweater over his undershirt, stripped of his outerwear down to his jeans.

"Hey, you ready, buddy?"

"No. Tempe has another present for me."

"Oh, yeah." Booth came over and sat down on the coffee table across from them on the sofa, ready to watch.

She handed Parker the bag. He pulled out the hardcover book and said, "Thanks, Tempe! Hey, this is your name!" he said, tracing the raised letters of her name on the cover. "F…flesh and Bone," he read carefully. "Um, I don't think I can read this book yet," he said, examining how thick it was.

"I know, sweetie. It's just my new book."

"Oh! This one hasn't come out yet?" he asked. "Even my teacher hasn't read it? She loves your books," he explained.

"No, your teacher hasn't read it. And you're right; you can't read it yet either, but maybe if it's okay with your dad after he reads it we could tell you a little bit about some parts of it, because I put a character in there that I decided to write after spending more time with you."

"There's a little boy in here like me?" Parker asked happily.

"Yes. See, here?" she flipped to the dedication page and showed him where his name was.

He read the dedication line quietly to himself and grinned. "Am I really your favorite kid, Tempe?"

"Yes, of course you are. Am I spending Christmas with any other children?"

"Nope! Thanks, Tempe! Now everybody who reads your book is going to see my name?" he asked proudly.

"That's right."

"Thanks!" he said, hugging him tightly. "Can I show it to Mom? She likes your books too."

"Well… you can tell her about it. But my publisher just let me have that copy early as a favor. It needs to stay with your dad to make sure that nothing about the story leaks out, okay? When it comes out in the bookstores, I'll give you another copy to give to your mom, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, hugging her arm tightly. "Thanks, Tempe!"

"You're welcome, Parker."

"Go get your shoes on, buddy. Your nice ones. And I'll tuck in your shirt."

Moving slowly because he didn't want to leave, Parker did as instructed. When he came back, he was fully dressed. Brennan watched in amusement as Booth helped tuck in his son's shirt and do the belt. Parker looked much more comfortable in his play clothes than in the ones Rebecca had sent for him to wear home. He was certainly adorable in the khaki slacks, burgundy button down shirt, and matching plaid sweater vest, but he looked distinctly uncomfortable – like Booth during an autopsy, she mused.

"Tempe's going with us, Daddy," Parker told his dad with a big grin.

"She is? And how exactly did you get her to do that?"

"I just asked her nicely, Daddy," he said innocently. "I wanted to see her longer, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Go get your coat; I already took the rest of your stuff out to the car."

Parker went to the door to put his coat on like he was heading to the gallows. Booth was trying to stay cheerful for his son, but Brennan could see that his happiness was rapidly deflating as well.

She pulled the coat she'd worn outside back on, overlarge though it was, and waited by the door with Booth for Parker to return. He was all but dragging his feet on the way back to the door. He took a deep breath and said, "All right, I guess I'm ready."

He slipped his hand into his dad's on the way out the door, and stuck close to him all the way to the 4Runner. Booth unlocked all the doors and helped his son into the back seat, helping him buckle up while Brennan got into the passenger seat.

"Parker, I want to thank you again for my wonderful gifts," Brennan said as they started driving and the silence of the car started to become sadder by the moment. "I love the pajamas and slippers, and the coffee mug is perfect. I'll take it to work tomorrow."

"Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I like my presents too, all of them! You give really good presents, Tempe. Sorry I didn't think Daddy would like your chair idea."

She laughed and said, "That's okay, Parker."

Parker had cheered up a little, but his face fell again as they pulled up to his house. It was crowded; that much was obvious from the number of vehicles parked in the driveway and along the curb. Booth had to park in front of the neighbor's house, and Parker got out reluctantly with Brennan's help, waiting by the car while Booth grabbed the large shopping bag of unwrapped gifts Parker was taking with him.

Parker started to walk down the sidewalk, grabbing Brennan's hand and holding on tight, walking as slowly as possible. Then he suddenly stopped moving altogether and grabbed her around the middle, hiding his face in the side of her leg.

"Um, Booth," she said, pointing down at the top of Parker's head. He stopped and turned to them, frowning in surprise.

"Buddy, what's going on?" Booth asked, putting a hand on his head.

"I don't wanna go, I wanna stay with you guys," Parker said, his voice muffled by Brennan's coat.

"Aw, buddy, I thought we were too big to do this every time," Booth said sadly, remembering how Parker used to do this every time he dropped him off when he was much younger – and how every time, it broke Booth's heart. "Come on, Parker, we had a wonderful time together, didn't we?"

"Yeah, that's why I don't wanna leave you."

Brennan peeled him off of her gently so she could crouch down to Parker's eye level. He immediately latched onto her again, hugging her neck tightly, putting his now teary face on her shoulder. "Parker, you wouldn't have a very good time with us if you stayed. We have to go to work tomorrow, and that's not going to be as much fun as staying home with your new toys and stuff, is it?"

"I don't know," he sniffled doubtfully.

She looked up at Booth and asked, "Do you think Rebecca might let you have him for New Year's Eve?"

"I don't know… maybe," he said.

Parker wiped his eyes and looked at them hopefully. "I'll ask her, okay, buddy? But you have to be on your best behavior with your mom's company, okay?"

"Okay Daddy," he agreed, now eager to get to spend another night with his dad in only a few days' time.

"Good. Let's go then, bub. We're late now."

Brennan tried to stand back up, but Parker was still clinging to her. "Parker," she laughed.

"I'm going but I'm still sad," he whispered to her.

Feeling extremely sorry for the sweet little boy, she stood up, picking him up this time. He wrapped his legs around her as well and rested his cheek on her shoulder.

"Parker, come on, you're too big to be carried," Booth objected.

"He's not too big, Booth," she said, walking a few steps ahead of him with Parker to emphasize that he wasn't too heavy. She turned to him when he didn't follow and said, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, sure." A little confused, he picked the bag back up and caught up with them.

Parker still hadn't let himself be put back down by the time Booth rang the doorbell. It was a few seconds before the door was opened. Rebecca looked annoyed already, Booth thought immediately as he saw the exasperated look on her face. "Seeley, you're late! Everyone is waiting to start lunch until Parker got here and… hi, Dr. Brennan," she said, stopping in confusion at the sight of her. Not just the fact that she was there; she was often there when Rebecca either dropped Parker off or picked him up. But she'd never seen her son clinging to her quite so closely before. "Is he okay?" she asked somewhat nervously.

"He's fine, he just wasn't really ready to leave," Booth said, setting the bag of gifts down inside the door.

"Oh. Okay, honey, well everyone's looking forward to seeing you," Rebecca said to Parker.

When Parker didn't respond, Brennan rubbed his back and said something to him quietly. He nodded and sniffled, taking a deep breath.

"Ask her, Daddy," Parker said, not lifting his head from Brennan's shoulder.

"We were wondering if you had any plans with Parker for New Year's," Booth said, hoping he didn't sound desperate out loud.

Looking a bit taken aback, she said, "Um, not specifically, no. Do you… do you want him?"

"Yes," Booth said quickly. "I mean, think about it, you and Cap… Brent… could stay out late, not worry about coming home to let the sitter go…"

"That would be great," Rebecca said quickly. "Okay, Parker, you'll see your dad soon, say goodbye and go inside – your grandmother is waiting for you."

Parker knew he had no choice now, and didn't want to risk his mom changing her mind about New Year's. with tremendous effort, he took a deep breath and lifted his head, smiling at Brennan. "Bye, Tempe, I love you."

Somewhat taken aback, she looked at the open vulnerability in his eyes and said, "I love you too, Parker. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, kissing her cheek as she set him on his feet. He let go of her this time, and turned to his dad for a big hug. "Love you, Daddy."

"I love you too," Booth said, his jaw twitching as he tried to look calm and pleasant for Parker. "You be good and I'll see you soon, okay? Merry Christmas, Parker."

"Merry Christmas, Daddy," he echoed, as Booth stood up straight and kissed the top of his head before letting him go.

Rebecca looked a little bit annoyed as she guided Parker inside.

Booth watched the door close, waited a few moments, then cleared his throat, offering her a smile that wasn't genuine. She decided not to point out that she recognized it as false. On their way back to the car, something Angela had once said to her a long time ago popped into her head and prompted her to reach out and take his hand.

A full second after she'd taken his hand, he looked down as though only just then noticing that she was touching him. He squeezed her hand lightly and gave a half-smile, but at least it was a real one.

"Um, Booth, would you like me to drive?" she asked when they got to the car.

"No," he said quickly. "I'm fine."

She nodded and got into the car. He didn't say anything, but drove with an unusual amount of attention, his jaw clenching frequently. She didn't say anything, but kept glancing at him nervously.

When they got out at his apartment, she went inside with him trying to figure out what to say. He helped her out of her coat and hung it up next to his. "Do you want some coffee?" he asked.

"Sure. Or… I can fix it, if you want," she offered.

"Okay," he said. He sounded distracted, as though he were only half-listening. It wasn't something she was used to from him. She headed past him towards the kitchen, but stopped because he grabbed her wrist as she passed.

She turned to look at him. The look in his eyes was way too much like the one Parker had had before, the one that had broken her heart. "I think maybe I'm not fine," he admitted.

She nodded, brow furrowed in concern and sympathy. He hugged her tightly, surprising her with how quickly he moved.

She hugged him back, remembering how long he had stood there hugging her after he'd told her about the dog she had wanted to adopt being put to sleep. She was determined to return the favor and keep hugging him as long as he wanted.

They stood there for a long time, both thinking about Parker and wishing that Booth got more time with his son than he did. "I'm sorry you didn't get to be alone with him."

"Don't be. It's not about being alone with him, it's about seeing him happy and being part of it. And he was thrilled that you were here." He looked down and admitted, "I was too."

"I'm glad I was here," she admitted. They exchanged fond smiles.

"Let's go get that coffee now," he suggested again, heading to the kitchen. She followed and waited while he got the coffee. She sipped at hers, aware that he was still moving around the kitchen, and finally looked up. He was fiddling with something on the counter. She got up and joined him, and saw that it was the mistletoe headband.

"I _am _sorry about that," she said. "I'll definitely have to tell Angela how not-funny that was."

Booth was fiddling with it still, and looked uncharacteristically nervous. "Uh, yeah. Well, I was thinking about that. I'm sorry I blew up about it before. I just… was thinking about last year, you know, when…"

"Caroline made me kiss you to get my family together, yeah."

"Now hang on a second, to be fair, she didn't exactly _make _you. You could've said no, tried to bargain a little harder…"

"Are you saying it was my idea?"

"No, not that it was your idea, just that you didn't seem to object to it too much."

"Of course not; what is there to object to. It was actually a fairly simple exchange, I thought."

"I'm just saying, Caroline wasn't the one coming at me like a flying squirrel…"

"I did not come at you like a flying squirrel, Booth, that is a ridiculous…"

"We-ell, you certainly took…"

"What are you trying to say here, Booth? Why are you arguing about this, now, because if you're just trying to get your mind off Parker I think there are plenty of better ways to…"

"This has nothing to do with Parker," he cut her off quickly. "I was trying to say… okay, look," he said, and she suddenly realized he was embarrassed about something. Very embarrassed. "I was thinking. This was a pretty good year for us, right?"

She nodded.

"So um, I was thinking, we did okay after last year's mistletoe thing. Maybe it should sort of be a… tradition."

"A tradition? You mean, you want to do it again? Every year?"

"I was thinking it might be… good for us. In a way. A way Sweets can never know about. Just that… once a year, you know, if we know what's going to… to happen, and we can sort of… plan on that happening…" he trailed off. "You think it's a bad idea," he concluded.

"No," she said quickly, then realized maybe she sounded a bit too eager. "I think… it could be a good idea. Maybe we should… try it and see. An experiment!"

Her enthusiasm for the idea made him get concerned about it again. He started to backtrack, but then decided that if he did that now, it would only come up again next year.

He handed the headband to her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Come on, last time you just sort of… came at me. It's my turn."

Deciding to humor him, mainly because it meant that she didn't have to do anything else, she put on the mistletoe headband and waited patiently.

"Wait," she said suddenly.

"What?" he asked, taking a step away from her.

"Are you going to freak out if we do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like last time, we both sort of… ran off."

"Uh, I don't know. Why?"

"Because I promised Parker I wouldn't leave you alone today."

"You… what?"

"Parker. He was really worried about leaving you alone on Christmas Day. He didn't want you to be sad after he left, so he made me promise to stay with you today. So if you're going to freak out and not look at me for days if we do this, then it's not a good idea."

He shifted his weight from foot to foot for a few minutes, thinking. "Well," he said. "This year will be different because we kind of know what to expect. And Caroline won't be watching. And if we're both agreeing to it ahead of time, then… it should be fine, right?"

"Sure. As long as you understand I'm not running out the door afterwards."

"I'm okay with that," he said immediately, then thought he sounded too desperate and winced at his own words.

"Okay then."

"Okay."

"Okay."

He set his coffee mug down and stepped close to her again, the mistletoe spring bobbing over their heads weirdly.

"This is weird," he said after a few moments when he couldn't make himself go any further. "It's all…"

"Contrived," she suggested quietly.

"Yeah," he agreed.

He saw a brief look of disappointment in her eyes before she swallowed and shrugged casually, and reached up to pull the headband off.

It was the look of disappointment that did it. The awkwardness disappeared, for him at least, and before it got a chance to come back, he kissed her.

He felt her inhale sharply in surprise, but didn't let her jump away. He had been blindsided and backed into a corner last year when she had kissed him, and had barely overcome his surprise and started to kiss her back when she had pulled away. This year he was determined to show her that he wasn't a terrible kisser. Even if they decided this was one of those things that never got talked about again, at least she would know that last year's kiss hadn't exactly been his best work.

When the kiss finally ended, he felt like he'd just given – and been given – a thorough dental checkup. He had trapped her between himself and the counter, so she still couldn't exactly step away from him. He hugged her tightly, pressing his nose into her neck while he tried to calm down and sort through his thoughts.

She muttered something about "lots of steamboats" but assumed it was to herself, not him.

He wasn't sure if the experiment had been a catastrophic failure or a huge success. It had certainly been nowhere in the middle. He supposed it depended on how you looked at it.

On the one hand, it might weirdly help put things at ease between them for the rest of the year, if they could go through their lives knowing that at Christmas they would be allowed a sort of break from the reality of their normal partnership.

On the other hand, it was probably going to be much harder than it already was to keep redrawing that line between them… he was starting to really hate that line.

"Booth," she finally started, after a long time.

He was scared of her reaction, and the look on his face as they finally looked each other in the eye must have said as much, because she opened her mouth to say something else, but they both jumped as her cell phone rang and interrupted them.

She let it ring twice, staring at him with her mouth partly open, until he said, "You should get that."

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the display. "Dad?" she asked as she answered.

Booth sighed and stepped aside so she could move. Absently taking off the headband, she went into the living room talking to her dad and, from the sound of it, her brother and nieces as well. Booth refilled their coffee mugs and went into the living room.

She seemed to be having a good conversation. He set the coffee mug down next to her and gestured that he was going to give her some privacy. To his surprise, she shook her head vehemently and grabbed his sleeve, tugging him towards her.

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, he sat down next to her on the couch. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and he listened to her half of the conversation. From what he could tell, her nieces were having a great time and were very thankful for the gifts she had sent them. Her brother must have been hinting fairly strongly that she should have come with them, because she started to look guilty when talking to him, and said a lot of things about having to work and wanting them to have time alone with the girls' grandparents.

Her dad seemed more concerned about what she was doing with her Christmas time than the fact that she wasn't there – she went into the most detail with him, promising that she hadn't been working, and that she had spent the time with Parker and Booth. When she'd said his name, he couldn't help but notice that her cheeks turned pink.

He turned his head away and smiled to himself at that, amused at how she was now explaining very quickly about how Parker had insisted she spend all of Christmas with them and she hadn't wanted to disappoint the little boy on Christmas…

Booth was chuckling quietly to himself about it, until Brennan handed him the phone and said, "Dad wants to talk to you."

"Wh… no, that's okay…" he started, but she had already pressed the phone to his ear. "… hey, Max, how's it goin'? Thanks for Parker's gift, he loved it."

"No problem. Booth, you didn't sleep with my daughter last night, did you?" Max asked lightly.

"N-no," Booth said quickly, leaning a bit further away from her so she hopefully couldn't hear her father. It wasn't really a lie, he told himself quickly. Max meant sleep in a different way from the way they had _actually _slept together, after all.

"Are you still sure you're not gay?" was the next question.

Booth rolled his eyes and said, "Affirmative. Merry Christmas, Max. Tell everyone there I said hello, okay, bye, here's Bones." He passed the phone back to her quickly.

"Dad, what did you say?" Brennan asked suspiciously. "Fine, I'll ask Booth… okay, Dad…. me too. Merry Christmas, Dad."

She hung up the phone and set it on the coffee table, then turned to him. "What did my dad say to you?"

"The usual. Asked if I was gay."

"Why would he…" she started, then decided she'd rather not know. There might be a lot of questions in her mind about the exact nature of their relationship, but whether or not Booth was gay was certainly not one of them.

After a few moments of silence, they looked at each other a bit awkwardly. "Do we, um, need to talk about the… mistletoe thing?" he asked.

"I don't think so. Do you?"

"Well… I mean, if we're both comfortable with agreeing that… that will now officially be a tradition. A _secret_ tradition that you do _not _tell Angela about, then I would say no, we don't really need to talk about it."

"Fine, then you can't tell Sweets about it either."

"Why would I tell Sweets about it? You're the one that told him about it last year; I never would have brought it up."

"You're the one who brought him to one of my dates," she countered.

"We needed to update you on the latest break in the case," Booth insisted, although he knew it was a weak argument. She gave him a look of disbelief but didn't press it.

"So, what do you usually do after you drop Parker off?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Watch Christmas movies. Go to the gym and workout like crazy to keep my mind off things."

"Is the gym even open on Christmas day?"

"It is if you get the keys from the owner."

"Oh. If you want to go…"

"No, that's okay. Do you want to see which Christmas movies are on TV?"

"Sure."

They spent the rest of the day watching Christmas movies, both trying to prove that they could be normal around each other – or their own version of normal, at any rate – after a kiss like that. They were also both trying to keep Booth from dwelling on Parker's absence as well.

Several hours after dinner, Brennan decided she really did need to go home. Spending another night there, without the excuse of working on a case and without Parker there, would probably be a very bad idea. In many ways, maybe it would actually be a very good idea, but she didn't feel like she was ready to handle all the ramifications of that yet.

She gathered her gifts and Booth walked her out to her car. Light snow flurries had started to fall. "Call me when you get home, okay?" he asked.

"Booth," she warned. "I'm perfectly capable of driving eight miles by myself."

"I know, but the roads are icy and it's starting to snow. Please? It _is _still Christmas."

"All right," she relented, putting her bag of gifts in the back seat. She turned to him and hugged him quickly, pecking him on the cheek as well. "Merry Christmas, Booth."

"Merry Christmas, Bones," he echoed.

He watched her drive off, then went back inside feeling a bit lonely. It really was sweet of Parker to ask her to stay… and sweet of her to do it, whether she was just humoring Parker or not. The feeling that was currently in danger of overwhelming him would have done so much earlier if she hadn't been there with him. Now, he could hopefully go to sleep soon. Although… he brightened considerably as he went into the living room and spotted her new book on the coffee table.

He picked it up, locked the door, and decided a nice hot bath with what he was sure would be a very good book would be a decent ending to an otherwise wonderful Christmas.

The End.

Note: I am starting another one that is a sequel, about New Year's Eve, but I wanted to end the Christmas one at Christmas. Thank you for reading.


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